


Prom Night

by Harlee_Quinn



Series: Jaxene Universe [11]
Category: Sons of Anarchy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-02 06:45:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6555817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harlee_Quinn/pseuds/Harlee_Quinn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One of the most dreaded nights of the year for dads everywhere, Opie Winston reluctantly agrees to let Ellie attend her first ever prom. But the SAMCRO VP is not the only biker who is concerned for Ellie's well-being. Tiki Munson—outlaw biker turned stalker for one night—gets more than he bargained for when he decides to keep an eye on Ellie. A Jaxene Universe 3-chapter ficlet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What's a Father to Do

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sons of Anarchy. Harlee Quinn does, however, own Jolene and any other OCs that appear in the Jaxene Universe.**

**A/N: This fanfic is dedicated to Harlee Quinn, who created the Jaxene Universe and made it all possible and to all the Jaxene fans who have begged, pleaded and threatened Harlee for an Ellie/Tiki story. So I hope you enjoy this little taste!**

* * *

_**Five Months after the Grand Opening of Take Five** _

It was a fine day in Charming as Opie Winston made his way down Main Street with Half Sack riding shotgun. On the cusp of summer, the sun was shining brightly as the two patches roared down the street, which was lined with large pots of newly planted spring flowers, courtesy of the new Charming Beautification Project sponsored jointly by the Chamber of Commerce and the Gold Circle Club.

As far as working days went, it was as good a day as any when Opie got the chance to work in the garage with a power tool in his hands. It had been uneventful, which was always a welcomed change, until that is, Jax called for an emergency meeting in the Chapel. It was a surprise to no one that after an all-too-brief quiet period, the Mayans were starting to make some noise again. This time, T.O. Cross, the President of the Grim Bastards MC had reached out to Jax after noticing an uptick of Mayan activity in Lodi. He suspected that the Oakland-based Club was gearing up to make yet another move on the Grim Bastards' territory. The last time, had been over four years ago and the Club had provided them with the weapons that their brother MC had needed to protect their turf. Now T.O. had a need for more guns and he needed them _yesterday_.

It had required Opie, Tig and Half Sack to make an unscheduled run to Lodi loaded up with MAC-10s and AKs. The run went off without a hitch, the exchange taking place on an old deserted logging road outside of Lodi and T.O. had been grateful for the quick turnaround.

Having returned back to the lot, Opie had believed that the rest of the day would be business as usual, and had joined a number of his brothers as they lounged comfortably in the Clubhouse as they took a lunch break when another issue erupted for the SAMCRO VP, which was why he now found himself beating a quick path to his old lady's salon.

In the middle of gulping down a frosty beer one of the Prospects had just tossed him to wash down his Pastrami on Rye, Opie felt his prepay vibrating in the breast pocket of his kutte and pulled it out to answer it, smiling as he noted the picture of a pretty brunette as it flashed on the screen.

"Hey Elle."

" _Hi Daddy. How's your day going?" Ellie Winston inquired cheerfully._

Opie raised an eyebrow. _Daddy, huh_? _Something is up._ "Everything's fine. What's going on?"

" _Well, I was wondering, if you weren't too busy, if you could stop by the salon," Ellie asked sweetly._

"What for?" Opie replied guardedly as he stroked with one large hand his box beard that recently began sporting minute gray hairs that his old lady teased him about unmercifully.

" _It's not a big deal, Dad. I just wanted to run something by you, that's all."_

"In that case, why don't you just tell me now?" he countered as he noted his best friend's expression of amusement.

" _Dad!" Ellie groused. "Don't be difficult. Besides, if you come by you'll get the added benefit of seeing your old lady and another very special lady."_

 _The little manipulator,_ he thought with barely suppressed laughter. "Okay. I'll see if I can swing by in 30."

" _Thanks Daddy. I'll see you soon."_

All during his conversation, Opie had felt the combined stares of his brothers and looking at them could see their raised eyebrows and smirks as they avidly listened to his end of the conversation like a bunch of gossipy old women rather than a group of stone cold killers. As he had closed his prepay, his brothers commenced ribbing him.

"Ah, get ready brutha. Your little lass has requested your presence. I bet she's gonna hit ya up for some cash for a shopping spree. Ya old lady has become something of a bad influence on the lass," Chibs said as he motioned to the Prospect for another shot of Jameson.

"I'm betting it's something else entirely," Jax said as he sat at the bar next to Chibs. "She prolly already has Fawn on her side and the two of them plan to double-team you, bro." As the brothers guffawed, the President grinned. "Just saying." His blue eyes sparkled merrily with amusement.

"Double-team me on what?" Opie said irritably as he eyed his grinning brother. _Jax was usually right on the mark with shit like this_ , he thought with an inward sigh. Lately it seemed as if the outlaw was constantly being squeezed by his old lady and his daughter on any number of issues and sweetly worded demands and his weak ass would fold like a cheap suit.

"Oh come on Ope. Get serious. Your little girl ain't so little anymore. Probably wants to date some pimply-faced little asshole and wants you to give her the okay," Half Sack noted as he stretched his long legs on the edge of coffee table as he chowed down on a roast beef sandwich that was spread across his lap. "She's a good looking kid. Why some boy hasn't shown his face around here is something of a mystery to me."

"Prolly cause any boy in this town with a lick of sense knows who her outlaw daddy is," Filthy Phil said as he took a large bite of his sandwich. "Pushing up on the VP's kid comes with a shitload of consequences."

"Exactly," Jax said as he grinned at his suddenly perturbed brother. "But my niece is a very determined young woman. I think Opie's days of peace are numbered."

"Thus speaks the man who has his own little girl to worry about," Bobby said slyly as he sat at one of the tables. "If I said it once, I'll say it a hundred thousand times. I thank the Good Lord on a daily basis that he only blessed me with sons," the shaggy haired biker said cheerfully as he finished rolling a rather ugly looking joint as he thought about his youngest son who was entirely too much like himself. _It's a miracle the boy hasn't made me a grandfather yet_ , Bobby thought as he lit his joint.

"Bobby's right, son. Your days _are_ numbered. God help us all," Clay said as he eyed his son-in-law with a shit-eating grin. _I just hope I'll be still around for that shit. Payback is bitch._

"You sorry motherfuckers, Maddy's only nine! I'm years away from that shit." Yet and still Jax's eyes darkened with irritation at the thought of some sex-starved teenage man-boy pushing up on his daughter.

"Well, you might as well head over now and find out what Ellie wants," Half Sack said as he stood up. "I'll go with you as I want to check in on Cherry." His old lady—who was currently five months pregnant—now worked as a manicurist at Fawn's salon. Half Sack appreciated the VP's old lady hiring Cherry, who used to work at a nail salon in Lodi. With her pregnancy he preferred that she stay close to Charming and she had managed to fit right in at the salon.

Now as they streaked down Main Street Opie could only hope that whatever his little girl wanted wouldn't add any more gray hairs to his head.

* * *

Pulling to a stop in the front of the salon, the two patches cut off their engines and removing their helmets strode into the salon.

As usual, the salon was a busy hive of activity. Stylists wearing the signature black aprons embellished with the logo of _Take Five_ were working on clients, hustling back and forth to the shampoo and drying areas, laughing and gossiping about the town and its current politics, sharing styling and beauty tips and debating on the excesses and misfortunes of the lives of the rich and famous.

The arrival of two members of the Sons of Anarchy—one a big burly man, and the other nearly a half a foot shorter with a slender build and wearing leather kuttes—did not raise any comment or alarm from the clients sitting in their stylists' chairs or from those waiting patiently in the reception area. After all, the Sons were a well-established part of the town of Charming, and it was well known that the large mountain of a man was the significant other of one of the salon's partners.

That partner looked up with a smile as she heard her name tumble off the lips of her old man. "Hey babe," Fawn Trager said eagerly as Opie made his way over to her station. "Look who I finally got in my chair today."

Reaching over to plant a firm kiss on his old lady's lips, Opie grinned as he looked down at the figure who was preening at her reflection in the station's wide mirror. "Hey Ma. Looking pretty good." He bent over to kiss her on her cheek.

"Yes, I do believe your right," Mary Winston beamed as she swiveled her head from side to side. "I finally let her do her thing on me. Fawn is a miracle worker."

"It wasn't that hard. I had a lot to work with." Fawn smiled at the woman who, for all intents and purposes, was as probably as close to a mother-in-law that she would ever get. The new short haircut that layered and framed the older woman's face was very flattering. Fawn had gotten rid of the gray and had added warm honey brown highlights to freshen her up and the use of some new cosmetics had given the older woman a new glow.

"Doesn't Grand look great Dad?" Ellie's voice was cheerful as she approached them, having quickly tripped down the stairs as she heard the approaching motorcycles coming down the street from the salon upstairs. "Hey, Half Sack. Nice surprise. Checking up on Cherry?"

Half Sack shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. "Yeah. Since your Dad was coming down, I thought I'd swing by. She okay?" he asked anxiously.

"She's fine. I was coming downstairs to get her a bottle of water. Maybe you can grab one from the employee lounge and bring it up? I know she'll be glad to see you."

"Sure thing." Half Sack nodded towards the group before making his way toward the back of the salon. It looked like he wouldn't get a front row seat to what the VP's kid was going to try and weasel out of his brother this time around, but he figured he would get the details later from Cherry.

_Bobby Elvis is right. I sure as shit hope that me and my old lady's kid is a boy._

* * *

Having an overprotective father was not an easy matter for a teenage girl to deal with, especially when said father was a hardcore biker in an MC and an ex-con to boot.

Eleanor Mary Winston had no illusions about who her father was and what he did to earn for his family. She had lived in the town of Charming all of her life and was well aware that her father was a one percenter, a part of definitive group of bikers who not only loved the freedom of the road, but the freedom to live their lives on the outside of society with their own rules and codes of conduct. While there were times where she quite naturally worried for her father and his brothers and had felt the small tug of her conscience about the lifestyle that they had chosen to live, there was one undeniable fact: that regardless of what outsiders might think they knew about the Club, at its heart SAMCRO was a family and Ellie knew that she was a well-loved and cared for part of the very dysfunctional clan.

In fact, having a father who was on the opposite side of the law was a lot harder to deal with as compared to the issues that some of her schoolmates had with their fathers. When it came to his kids Opie Winston was very suspicious about outsiders who could possibly endanger his family, especially after what had happened just a year ago with Charles "Chip" Preston Jr.

Every time Ellie thought about the rich and seemingly clean cut teenager who had caused so much misery for her and her father's old lady, she inwardly squirmed with shame. Although having been told countless times that she was not to blame, in her view she had been partially responsible for bringing that douche bag so close to her family. Chip had caused a lot of harm until he had quietly disappeared off the scene.

While Ellie didn't know all the gory details, her brother had managed—with no little amount of effort considering his status as a Prospect with the Club—to get some details from their father. Harry had grimly assured her that the little fucker had paid the ultimate price for his crimes and had been served with a large dose of outlaw justice. Knowing that the Club had taken action to avenge Chip's attacks against her and Fawn had caused Ellie some mixed feelings. While she felt that he truly deserved all that he had received and more, there was a part of her felt that had she had rejected his advances and kept out of his orbit, he would still be alive, and she had said as much to her brother. Harry had told her that she was just too fucking tenderhearted for her own damn good and that had Chip been left alive, NorCal would probably had been littered with a new crop of date rape victims.

The bad experience with Chip had been reason enough not to have anything to do with any of the teenage boys that were in her circle of friends and acquaintances. There was no need to end up dating another asshole or worse, to end up dating a nice guy that simply wouldn't understand how things worked in an MC. After all, none of the boys she knew could really compare to the one man that she truly wanted.

Ellie Winston had had a crush on Tiki Munson ever since she was a young girl. Her fixation on the young and sickly boy six years her senior had never wavered. Shortly after Tiki had subsequently beaten the crap out of Chip Jr., Ellie could see that their relationship—such as it was—was starting to evolve. It was as if the young biker was beginning to realize that she was finally growing up. More than a few times she had managed to flirt a little with Tiki, and Ellie had hoped that the turning point in their relationship had been the evening that Tiki had shown up at Tina Giamatti's house, initially to take her home, but instead had taken her for a wonderful midnight ride. They had spent a lot of time talking and sharing intimate details about each other that is, until Tiki had taken her home. The night had culminated in an absolutely amazing goodnight kiss but had unfortunately been called to a halt with the unexpected arrival of her grandmother.

Mary Winston had nearly taken Tiki's hide and had issued a strong warning not to punch her granddaughter's v-card before she was legal. Eavesdropping on the conversation, Ellie had been horrified and apparently Tiki had been sufficiently warned off to the point that for a brief few weeks he had completely avoided her. It wasn't until the day of the grand opening of the salon that Ellie had been able to make it clear to Tiki that she was unhappy with being brushed off and her hurt feelings had compelled Tiki to agree to talk at the Club festivities that evening. Although it seemed that Tiki was intent on keeping things friendly, he was obviously not ready to make any kind of real move in her direction. Ellie could understand it as she had only been 16 at the time.

But now at age 17, Ellie felt that it was time for her to make it clear to Tiki that she was ready for him to claim what belonged to him, and a prime opportunity had now presented itself. Ellie realized that if used to her advantage, she could—as the old SAMCRO saying goes— _kill two birds with one crow_.

Which was why she was doing the best she could to soften up her father for what would probably be a big blow for the outlaw biker. The slim, beauty at 5'8 made a pretty picture in a simple pair of black trousers and a deep blue blouse covered with a _Take Five_ apron. Her hair which was in long dark waves with a short fringe of bangs was above a pair of deep blue eyes set in a sweetly attractive face. Having greeted her father warmly, she was now pressed up against his side, one arm wrapped around his waist as she peeped up at him between her dark eyelashes.

 _Ah shit, I'm in trouble_ , Opie thought with a little sigh. _She looks so much like her mother. I'm liable to give into anything now._

But the SAMCRO VP told himself to get his shit together. He had a feeling that he was going to need to stand firm as he eyed the three determined women in front of him. "So," he said slowly. "What was so important that you had to drag my ass down here?"

 _Okay, this is it. Don't mess this shit up,_ Ellie told herself sternly as she gave her father with a winning smile.

"Well, it's like this Dad. I've been invited to the prom and I really want to go." She held her breath as her father's deep green eyes widened in what could only be identified as horror.

 _Shit_ _!_ _Jax and Half Sack were right on the fuckin' money_!

* * *

Tiki Munson hopped out of the cab of the tow truck after V-Lin parked it and the late model BMW it was hauling. It was the fourth and final repo of the day and Tiki was overseeing V-Lin on the job, making the prospect do all the work just like a good patch would.

Tiki made a handsome picture as he sauntered across the lot towards the Clubhouse, his shoulder length dark wavy hair dancing in the breeze, along with his T-M work shirt, revealing a white wife-beater which clung to his tautly muscled and tattooed frame, baggy jeans and a pair of black and white retro Converse sneakers completing the look.

The lot was quite busy and Tiki had shouted out a couple of greetings to his brothers and mechanics alike as they worked on various cages, and winking at a couple of the sweetbutts that were hanging out at the picnic table, he entered the Clubhouse.

Walking inside and hoping like hell he could scrounge up some grub out of the kitchen for a late lunch, he was surprised to see that not all of his brothers were hard at work. Instead he noted that the SAMCRO's top three officers were stretched out on the couches in what appeared to be a deep and somewhat grim discussion.

Thinking that the morning's run to Lodi might have gone south, Tiki quickly approached his brothers. "Hey," he said as he grabbed a chair from around one of the tables, turned it around and straddled it backwards. "What's going on?"

 _Please don't tell me Tigger went ape shit in Lodi again_.

Jax cocked an eyebrow at the younger man's concern. "No big shit. Just commiserating with our brother is all," as he slapped a hand on Opie's shoulder.

"Fuck that," the VP retorted. "I don't like this shit at all."

"Then why the fuck did you say yes, asshole?" Tig Trager said as he eyed his brother irritably. "If you didn't' want her to go, you should have put your foot down."

"It ain't that easy," the gentle giant said morosely.

"Sure it is," Tig argued. "You just look your kid in the eye and tell her to stay the fuck home."

"I don't suppose that shit worked with Big Red, did it?" Opie countered.

At that, Tig grinned and shrugged his shoulders philosophically. "Nah, I mean, I wasn't really around for that shit, but knowing my crazy ass kid, had Coll' told her no to anything, she would have blown up shit any fuckin' way just to piss her off, just like her old man. But this is _your_ kid we're talking about." The crazy-haired biker held up a ringed finger to emphasize his point. "All I know is if some shit goes south, I don't want to hear you blaming Fawnzy for siding with your kid. You should've put your old lady in lockdown for not backing your ass up."

Tiki's head had been whipping back and forth between the three men and he was getting more and more confused. But his sponsor's mention of "your kid" had nearly frozen him solid. He held up a hand. "Hold up. I'm lost here. Stop who from going where?"

"It seems that my niece is finally going on what will be her first officially sanctioned date and to top it off it's to the fuckin' prom." Leaning forward and shaking his head with a mix of commiseration and barely repressed amusement as he looked at his friend's miserable expression, Jax completely missed the look of shock and anger that crossed Tiki's face.

Tig, however, didn't.

 _Well, shit_ , he thought as he watched the young patch he had sponsored through cool blue eyes. _I guess somebody ain't too happy about this shit either._ _Wait 'til I tell Tina. My doll was right._

The SAA was definitely right in ascertaining the situation. Unnoticed by the two patches who were best friends from the cradle, Tiki clenched his hands into fists as he thought about this new development, but his thoughts were interrupted by his President.

"Tiki, get the Prospect to grab us some glasses and a bottle of Jack, will ya?" Jax asked. Grimly, Tiki made his way to the bar where a Prospect was currently polishing the gleaming bar with a rag and lemon oil. "Four glasses and a bottle of Jack, shithead."

The tall giant behind the bar quickly complied. "Trouble?" he said quietly as he shoved the glasses and liquor at Tiki.

"Not anything that your father can't handle," Tiki said tersely as he left Harry behind to slam the glasses on the low table and poured out four shots.

Jax snatched one up and passed it to Opie who quickly knocked it back. "Look bro, maybe it won't be as bad as you think."

Opie raised an eyebrow derisively at his friend. "Really, Jax? You're really gonna lead with that shit? After what happened to Jolene on her first date in Oak-Town when she was 17?"

"Wait a minute . . . what happened to Jo?" Tiki asked but was waved off by his President.

Jax ran a hand over his chin. "Okay, _that_ was some twisted shit, and come to think of it, those two fuckers had a lot in common with Chip Jr., but a lot has changed for Ellie. She's kept her nose clean for a year, been working hard at school and at the salon. Yeah, I get that you're concerned. So am I, but I think she's learned her lesson." He turned to Tiki, his blue eyes boring into him. "Right, Tiki?"

The young patch could read Jax's mind as clear as an open book. It was obvious that the Prez wanted to calm his best friend down and he wanted Tiki to back him up. The problem was he didn't want to encourage Opie to think that it was a good idea to let Ellie date some pimple-faced sex maniac.

_Especially after what happened between us several months back._

But Tiki was a good patch and he knew he had to follow his President's lead. "I think Jax is right," he replied calmly with some effort. "Ellie is not likely to make a mistake again to get involved with another asshole. She's really matured a lot over the last year. She could probably handle herself."

Surprised, Opie gazed into Tiki's eyes. His brother seemed to be quite unaffected at the idea of Ellie dating some asshole and it was interesting considering his original concern about Tiki's possible interest in his daughter. Having witnessed for himself the two of them having an intense conversation on the lot several months ago, Opie hadn't known what to make of it. At the time, a part of him wanted to see Tiki's guts splayed all over the lot's blacktop courtesy of his own fists, but fortunately his old lady had managed to talk him off that slippery ledge. He had, however, kept a pretty close eye on the pair whenever there had been family functions and had noted that while they were close, Tiki treated his daughter with nothing but respect and as such, any ideas that there was some interest on his part in Ellie had faded to the background. The fact that now Tiki seemed willing to encourage Ellie in this prom shit made Opie wonder if maybe his ass was borrowing a page from Clay Morrow and getting delusional in his need to protect his underaged daughter. After all, with five years as a brother under his belt, Tiki was a hardened patch with a healthy sexual appetite more suited to the croweaters and sweebutts of the charter. His old lady had noted that despite living the life of an outlaw, Tiki still had a genuine sweetness with women, due in part that he came from the loins of an Elvis crooner, and despite all efforts of his crazy-eyed sponsor to toughen him up, Tiki had not changed. However, with the type of woman that Tiki had been exposed to within the Club, it was extremely unlikely that his brother would be interested in a teenager with absolutely no sexual experience.

Taking another shot from Jax, Opie quickly downed it as Tiki asked another question. "So . . . do you know anything about this guy?"

"Not much, but Elle seems to have Fawn convinced that he ain't too bad. He's a jock on Excelsior Prep's soccer team. Name is Greg Daniels. He hangs out in a crowd of Ellie's friends." Opie focused his eyes on Tiki. "Do you know him?"

Tiki pursed his lips in contemplation. "No, I don't think so," he sighed. "But this shit is kind of all of a sudden, ain't it? He could be a good kid, but I don't know. Maybe Tig is right. Tell Ellie you've changed your mind and that she can't go." He winced as he saw his President roll his eyes at him for flipping on him.

"Are you insane?" Jax asked with some skepticism. "If Ope changes his mind now, all hell will break loose. Not only will he have to deal with Ellie, but Fawn and Mary too."

Focusing dark green eyes on Tiki, Opie eyed the younger patch with a look of anger mixed with suspicion. "Are you trying to get me killed? Jax is right. That's why they called me to the salon in the first place. I got _triple-teamed_ and worn down to a fuckin' nub. I finally said yes to get them off my back. Fawn and Elle are already making plans to go shopping for a dress tomorrow," Opie said gloomily.

"Well then brother. I guess there's nothing you can do about that shit, unless you intend on following her around all night," Tig said as he knocked back his shot.

"Not gonna happen. Fawn had already freed up working at the salon a couple of weeks ago so that we could have some alone time at Pop's cabin for a long weekend. The plan was to leave right after she finished work Friday night. I told her that we should cancel but she won't even consider it. Big Red says we need to trust that Ellie can handle herself."

Tiki sat back in deep thought. _Maybe Ope can't follow Ellie around, but there's no reason I can't_. _Fawn is wrong. Somebody has to watch over her to make sure some creep doesn't try any shit._

Never being interested in school activities or parties, Tiki had never been to a school dance in his life, certainly never a prom, but he was well aware of all of the shit associated with them. Teenagers—with their soon to be new status as adults just ahead of them—usually took this opportunity to test the waters, to go buck wild and to do all types of illegal shit, but the number one pastime at the prom for every male was getting laid before the night's end. He didn't have a clue who this Greg was, but he wasn't about to leave Ellie out there twisting in the wind having to fight off another predator. Tiki inwardly shuddered as he thought about the countless date rape drugs that were available should an enterprising little fucker know where to look.

_Obviously somebody needs to help Opie out._

In that moment, Tiki realized that he had to stand up and do his brotherly duty, regardless of whether or not anybody else would. He decided that it was best to keep his idea to do just that to himself. There was no need to call attention to the fact that he would practically be stalking Ellie all night and the biker refused to examine his feelings and motives behind this supposedly selfless act.

_I guess_ _I'm_ _going to my very first prom too._


	2. What a Girl Wants

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sons of Anarchy. Harlee Quinn does, however, own Jolene and any other OCs that appear in the Jaxene Universe. I'm just taking them out for a spin!**

 

* * *

"No, I think that's a bit much, don't you?" Jolene Teller said, twirling a long strand of her black as midnight curls as she eyed Ellie in the 360 degree mirror in deep contemplation. "It makes her look too old."

"You're right. It looked really cute on the hanger though, but it's a little _too_ sophisticated for our girl," Fawn Trager agreed as she eyed the dress and its wearer who was standing on a raised platform.

"Uh, I'm right here, you know," Ellie countered as she eyed the reflections of both women in the mirror. "I don't think it's so bad." She twisted and turned and liked how the figure hugging material clung to her curves.

"I'm sure you don't, but as we are a hell of a lot more experienced on this subject than you, it's best that we tell you what works best on you." Jolene fixed a fierce eye on her niece, whose mouth was pursed into a decidedly unhappy twist.

"I'm not a dress up doll you know."

"Nobody said you were, Elle," Fawn advised. "But all the same, that dress isn't right. I know you want the perfect dress for your first big date. Why don't you give this one a try? You really seemed to like it." She held it out and watched as Ellie marched back to the dressing room, the dress slung over her arm.

Lifting her hand, Fawn made the motion of wiping imaginary sweat from her brow. "Whew. That was a close shave. I'm sure glad you can play a pretty good bad cop to my good cop. If I had let Ellie walk out of here in that dress Ope would have flayed me alive." The two women looked at each other and did their best to keep their muffled laughter from reaching Ellie's ears.

Spending the afternoon shopping for a prom dress had been the last thing that either woman had expected to do today, but the two SAMCRO old ladies had quickly moved to do their best to help make it a special night for Ellie. Jolene had taken a half a day off from work and Fawn had rescheduled a couple of her appointments leaving Lexie behind to hold down the fort at the salon. The two women were determined to take Ellie to Stockton to do some power shopping and now the three of them were in the dressing room of a high end boutique store in the Stockton Galleria Mall as Ellie tried on one dress after another.

It was the middle of the week and as such, the SAMCRO women had the run of the shop's evening wear section as it was empty. Most teenage girls had long since purchased their dresses. The best thing about waiting so late to shop was that a new shipment of dresses had just come in and it was hopeful that Ellie would be able to find a dress she liked that had not been purchased by one of her classmates. There was nothing more humiliating for a teenage girl than to walk into a party only to see someone else wearing her dress.

Jolene propped herself against the wall as they waited for Ellie to change into the next creation. "Did you go to your prom?" she asked the woman who since her arrival in Charming over a year ago had become her best and closest friend.

The sexy redhead laughed coarsely. "Me? No fucking way. Despite my youth, I had a whole lot of flair back then and the last place I wanted to show it off was at a high school dance. When it came to my preferred venue to party, school dances were definitely at the bottom of the barrel. Held in funky gyms that smelled like a mix of dirty sweat socks and ass with colored toilet paper for decorations just wasn't my thang," Fawn snarked as Jolene laughed loudly.

"Besides by the time I hit 17, I was heavy into the party scene and let me tell you, it was pretty hard to come by in Eugene, which was pretty much the last place on earth to get your party on. I still managed to get myself into a shitload of trouble though. The night they had my prom, me and a bunch of my cohorts snuck across state lines to Tacoma to party in a bunch of clubs. I OD'd about a month later before I finally came to my senses. What about you? Did you and Jackson get all gussied up and go the prom? Got any pictures of your old man wearing an vintage tux with bright blue ruffles and a cummerbund and you in some pink monstrosity of a gown with _really_ big hair?" Fawn teased and her friend rolled her eyes.

"Hell no!" Jolene laughed. "Technically, me and Jax were a well-kept secret until my 18th birthday party when we officially came out of the closet to the Club. I graduated Excelsior shortly thereafter, but although I had a lot of friends and acquaintances in high school, I never was interested in going to the prom. Actually, I'm kind of surprised that Ellie wants to go, but I'm glad that she is, even though it's not her official prom since she's still a junior."

"Well, it's about time that she started the whole dating thing, although I tell you, I thought Opie was going to pass out when Ellie dropped the bomb on him. It's like it never occurred to Redwood that one day his daughter might actually want to hit the dating circuit."

"Well after what happened last year, Sasquatch probably hoped that he'd be dead and buried before Ellie went out with another boy."

"Too true, but he's got to get used to this someday and it looks like the day has finally arrived. It's better that Ope gets used to Ellie dating some little boy in her school."

Jolene raised an arched eyebrow as she folded her arms underneath her chest. "You mean instead of Tiki?" she said knowingly.

However, before Fawn could answer, they heard Ellie walking down past the row of changing rooms before she finally appeared in the middle of the room. The two women gasped with pleasure.

"That's it," Fawn said excitedly. "That's the shit right there."

"Oh most definitely." Jolene agreed as her niece walked toward them. "Your poor date will be in considerable awe of you. Take a look, Ellie."

Fawn watched as Ellie made her way in front of the small raised platform in front of the 360 mirror and stepping up on it turned around to get the full effect of the dress.

Fawn had to admit that she too had been surprised that Ellie was so strongly invested in going to the prom, especially at this late date, but maybe it was time for her little bird to spread her wings just a little. Ellie had been keeping quite close to the SAMCRO homestead since the events of last spring. Also, Fawn figured that maybe it was a good time for the young woman to hopefully to have a positive experience dating a normal teenager.

Fawn realized that Ellie had always been exposed to the men of SAMCRO and there was nothing wrong with that generally speaking, but there were all types of men outside the Club to be sampled. She didn't want Ellie to settle just because the MC Life was all she had ever known. Her bout with Chip Jr. had been a bad experience overall, but Fawn figured that it might be best for the teenager to get a little exposure with the opposite sex that was closer to her age and not too threatening.

_After all, an 18 year old boy-next-door type is certainly very different than a hot 23 year old biker._

Fawn may have been born yesterday, but she certainly hadn't been born last night. She had been well aware for some time of Ellie's fascination with Tiki Munson, the youngest patch of the mother charter. She couldn't blame her. Even she had felt her heart fluttering a little for Tiki when she first showed up in Charming. But the patch was an extremely experienced young man and way out of Ellie's league and although she didn't believe that Tiki would deliberately hurt her, there was the possibility that Ellie would be overwhelmed in a relationship with a man like him, her age notwithstanding.

On the flip side, however, was the possibility that for Ellie, only a bad biker boy would do. Regardless, this was a good opportunity for Ellie to experiment a little and Fawn believed that, after everything that had happened to the young woman last year, she would be far more wary of her surroundings and would not be so easily taken advantage of.

Fortunately for Fawn, during school hours Jolene had her eyes and ears out for her young niece. The high school math teacher, who had recently been appointed as the Dean of Mathematics for Excelsior Prep, was a very popular teacher whose youthful looks, upbeat personality and no nonsense approach to teaching kept her in sync with the Student Body. As a result, she had a number of Ellie's friends in her classes, including the young man who had invited her to the prom. According to Jolene, Greg Daniels was a very popular and smart senior who was not only a jock, but quite intelligent as well and who was this year's Valedictorian.

Now as Fawn watched the reflection of Elle's face in the mirror, she felt the slight pangs of alarm. The smile, which stretched from ear to ear, was not that of a young naive girl but of a full grown woman who was looking into the mirror and seeing with confidence that she had the weapons in her arsenal to get whatever she wanted. It was almost feline in nature, the knowing glint in her eyes was obvious even from where Fawn was standing. Fawn bit her bottom lip as she eyed Ellie.

 _Somehow, I think somebody is in trouble and I have a pretty good feeling that it's not this Greg guy_.

* * *

Sauntering into the Clubhouse, Gemma Teller-Morrow allowed her eyes to wander about the room, spotting Jax, Opie and Tiki as they played a round of pool and Bobby walking out of the kitchen with a fresh loaf of banana bread before her eyes finally landed on the patch sitting in a corner of one of the couches taking a nap and she grinned wryly.

 _That actually looks like a good idea_ , she thought as she watched the steady rise and fall of her old man's chest. It was a little amazing to the SAMCRO matriarch that she and Clay had been married for nearly 25 years and that they were still going strong.

Nearly ten years ago she had almost lost her old man in a bad road accident and his subsequent recovery had revealed a number of health problems that had quickly put Gemma on the alert to do what she could to keep her old man from taking a premature dirt nap. Clay coming to the conclusion on his own to step down to leave the running of the Club to their son had been difficult, but his semi-retirement had been the best for all concerned. Fortunately for Gemma she had Jolene in her corner, who along with her children did much in the way of keeping her father on the straight and narrow, although at times the wily old biker would give them both the slip, usually aided and abetted by his only granddaughter.

It never ceased to amaze her that no matter how old Clay was getting he simply got better with age. With a pattern of good healthy eating and his continued use of the Club's workout room, he still managed to keep his bulging biceps and well defined chest, although he could stand to do a little work on his ass. But thinking about that put an idea in her head that brought a crafty smile to her face as she hurried over to him.

Sitting on the couch next to her old man, Gemma slipped off the 4-inch Gucci heels that her podiatrist had warned her repeatedly to stop wearing, and laid her feet right on her man's crotch, using the balls of her feet in a circular kneading motion, which quickly got her man awake and at attention.

"Hmm," Clay said sleepily as he cracked his eyes open and spotted the sexy smile of his old lady. "What have we here," as he grabbed one of Gemma's feet in his large beefy hands. "What's Mama Bear doing in my lap?"

Gemma winked at him. "I was thinking that _Papa Bear_ might want to take a proper nap back in one of the spare dorms with some company," she said quietly with a little glint in her eyes.

Clay smiled. "I thought you had a shit load of paperwork to finish today," he murmured as he stroked the instep of one of her feet.

"I thought I'd take a little break," she grinned. "Give the brain muscles a chance to rest up a little."

"That's not at all a bad idea," he replied and swinging her feet to the floor stood up and held out his hand.

 _Whoever said sex was dead for people over 60 don't know shit,_ he thought with a huge grin as he pulled his old lady to her feet. _Nothing like a little mid-afternoon nookie to keep an old man alive and kicking._

Unfortunately for the old biker, his impromptu freakfest was about to be preempted. Suddenly the entrance to the Clubhouse opened and Clay watched as his daughter, followed along by Fawn and Ellie trooped inside loaded down with bags.

The next thing Clay knew he was alone as his old lady abandoned him to interrogate the SAMCRO women about their purchases and Clay realized that he and his now aching balls were going to have to wait shit out as he grumpily sat his ass back down on the couch.

"Hey baby," Fawn said as she dumped the bags she was carrying onto a chair before making her way to her old man.

Opie laid his cue stick aside as he properly greeted his old lady, wrapping his beefy arms around her and squeezing her ass. "So did you two spend up all our money?"

"Not quite all of it," Fawn murmured, looking over at Jax and Tiki. "Hopefully you managed to make a couple of dollars off these two here."

"No can do," Jax replied. "Tiki's been cleaning us both out, which technically is not the brightest thing to do to his Prez and VP."

"Hey, you know what they say: 'Lucky in pool, unlucky in love.' Since you two got the love shit covered, I think it's only fair that I get to whip your asses and get paid doing it," Tiki replied as he took his last shot, sending the 8-ball slamming into the corner left pocket to end the game, pocketing the three twenty dollar bills sitting on the rim of the table and shoving them in the back pocket of his jeans.

 _Although I might not mind losing all my money if I had a beautiful woman by my side_ , Tiki thought as he eyed Ellie and Jolene as they pulled out a pair of shoes to show to Gemma.

During their game, his VP had mentioned that at that moment Ellie was shopping for her prom dress, with Fawn and Jolene riding shotgun. Although Tiki had done what was in his opinion a pretty good job of trying to convince his brother to pull the plug on the date without calling attention to the reason why, he had not been successful. Opie had said that he had given the go ahead and he couldn't back out now. Knowing that Ellie was out shopping for a dress to wear for the boy that was taking her out had left Tiki in a very irritable and aggravated mood although he managed to hide that fact from his brothers.

The young patch was trying to do his best to compartmentalize his feelings regarding Ellie. The rational part of his brain told him that Ellie at age 17 was definitely off limits. He tried to recall how he used to view her as they were growing up just as one of the other SAMCRO kids that he had known over the years, but his trip down memory lane had only solidified in his mind how special she actually was. Ellie was a sweet young girl at times and a little hellion at others, especially when in the company of her twin. Unlike other children she hadn't avoided him because of his sickly temperament. She had instead kept him company during activities that were too difficult for him, foregoing playing with more robust children her age. He recalled how badly he had felt when her mother had died and the brief time when she and Harry had been taken away from their father and how that had affected them both.

Tiki had felt that if he kept focusing on that, their age difference, that familial bond, he could shove his other feelings aside, the other part of his brain that encouraged him to make a move to secure her affections while he had the opportunity, but not just for fun and games.

Ellie Winston was not just pussy. She had grown up in SAMCRO and besides her own father there were a number of patches, especially the older ones, who looked on her as a young woman who needed to be protected. Anyone who was going to step to her was going to have to take on all of those patches, along with her father, if they seriously wanted a shot with her.

Which was why Tiki had done his best to keep their relationship on a platonic level. It hadn't been easy these last few months. There was something about his "Little One" that wasn't so little anymore, and it was hard dealing with the possibility of anyone taking what he was now starting to realize should be his.

Now, as Tiki put aside his cue stick and left Opie, Fawn and Jax talking, he made his way over to the trio of women who were examining Ellie's new purchases, the largest of which was in a long garment bag, which had to be the dress that she would be wearing for another man.

Tiki wanted to whip out his Glock and shoot the offending garment full of holes. Instead, he put on a good show and grinned at the three women. "So I hear you've been spending your old man's money."

Ellie looked up to meet Tiki's blue eyes and gave him a cheeky smile. "Not all of it, but I did put a sizeable dent in his bank account."

"That's a daughter's job," Gemma said as she held up one of the delicate shoes that Ellie had purchased. "Jolene did the same while she was growing up. I don't expect you to be any different." She put down the shoe and lifted up the bag containing Ellie's prom dress. "What I really want is to see how you look in this. Why don't you go in the back and try it on—come out and show us all?"

"Uh," Ellie stammered as she noted the light in Tiki's eye. "I don't mind trying it on, but I don't want anybody to see me until I have the full look."

"Ellie's right," Jolene chimed in, "but let's all go in the back while you try it on. There's no reason why Gem can't get a sneak peek. I want to see it again myself. You look so beautiful in it."

"I bet your going to knock your date's eyes out," Gemma agreed.

 _And that's the last fuckin' thing I want_ , Tiki thought grimly.

* * *

Ellie peeped between her dark eyelashes at Tiki. While she would never claim to be an expert on reading men—more's the pity as what she knew would probably fit on the head of a pin—but she thought that maybe, Tiki wasn't too thrilled at the fact that she was going to the prom.

_Which was exactly why I agreed to go out with Greg in the first damn place._

Ellie considered the circumstances that had fallen into her lap and to which she hoped would finally net her what she had been dreaming about for years.

Recently dumped by his cheerleader girlfriend who had moved up the dating food chain by snagging a college man, Greg had appealed to Ellie to come with him to his prom, not wanting to go without a date. He had spared no expense for the event and a small group of their friends would be spending the evening together. At first, Ellie had turned him down. After all, she considered Greg to be just an schoolmate who happened to hang out in the same circles she did. But as Greg pleaded for her not to leave him hanging and that he really needed to save face, Ellie started to realize how, if she played the opportunity just right, it might open the way for something to happen between her and a very stubborn biker.

Ever since the night that Tiki had picked her up from Tina's and taken her for a midnight ride last fall, Ellie had been trying with some difficulty to find a way back into his arms. If she closed her eyes tight and thought very hard, she could still feel the warmth of his embrace and the unexpected and wonderful feeling of his lips on her own. That night she hadn't slept a wink as she relived that night between them, their conversation as they had opened up to one another and that wonderful and achingly sweet kiss. Not even the horror and embarrassment of being busted by Grand had intruded although she had spent the next couple of days waiting for her father's size sixteen boots to come down, first on Tiki and then on her. Despite all of Ellie's worrying, her grandmother had apparently kept what she had seen under wraps, something for which Ellie would be forever grateful.

So Ellie spent the next several months trying to move their 'relationship' forward, but the harder she tried it seemed the father she got away from her end goal. She felt like a batter who was perpetually stuck on first base who kept getting called out every time she tried to slide into second!

Greg's situation, although terrible for him, couldn't have come at a better time for her. After the Chip situation, Ellie had pretty much kept herself out of the dating scene and maybe that had been her downfall. Because she was in a dating limbo, there was really no urgency for Tiki to make a move to snap her ass up. Neeta—her secret guide on the male species—had as good as confirmed that with no man currently trying to romance her, the green eyed monster that most men had buried inside of them had no reason to make an appearance. Ellie never considered herself the type to deliberately date a guy in order to get the attention of the man she really wanted, especially when considering that the other party could get hurt. But in this case, Greg only wanted her around to save face.

 _So if Greg can use me, why not use him_?

And that had been the start of Ellie's scheme to use Greg as nothing more than Tiki bait. _Now I need to properly place the hook_ , she thought as she eyed the man of her affections and there was no better time than the present.

"Well, before I try the dress on again, I kind of need to talk to Dad about something and the more help I can have from you guys, the better," Ellie said sweetly.

"Help with what, Little One?" Tiki inquired.

"You'll see," she said as her father and old lady walked toward them, followed by Jax who quickly wrapped his arms around his old lady.

"So Fawn tells me you didn't quite burn up my credit card," Opie eyed his daughter. "I guess I should be grateful."

"Oh Dad, don't be a spoilsport. After all, how many times does a girl get invited to a prom?" Ellie said as she walked over and reached up to kiss her father on his cheek. "It's a very special night."

"C'mon Redwood. I know you left your youth behind a long time ago, but you know Ellie's right. A girl's first prom can be very special."

"I'm glad you agree with me, Fawn, because I want to make it even more special." The teenager smiled as she tucked her arm into the crook of her father's. "Because there's a big after party at Nicky's Diner and I want to go," she announced.

"The after what?" her father retorted but Ellie's eyes were too busy watching carefully Tiki's expression.

 _Gotcha!_ Ellie wanted to jump up and down in glee as she noted the quick glint of fire in Tiki's eyes before he managed to get his shit under control.

"The after party, Dad. You know. After the prom is over all my friends are going to hang out at Nicky's Diner. It's going to be open 24 hours and we're going to order food and hang out and stuff. Everyone stays until the sun comes up for breakfast."

"Are you fuckin' serious?" Opie whipped his head around. "She can't possibly be serious. You want me to okay you staying out _all night long_?"

Jolene sighed ruefully as she realized why her niece had wanted her help. "I'm afraid she is, Ope. You'd know that hanging out at Nicky's after the prom is an Excelsior tradition if you and Jax had bothered to stick around for senior year," she said. "A huge crowd of kids hang out at Nicky's, inside and in the parking lot in their rides keeping the party alive until the sun rises."

"Well, I don't see the harm in that," Gemma chimed in. "After all, this is _Charming_. Those kids won't get into any more shenanigans than they usually do on a Saturday night and with them all corralled at Nicky's place, the Sanwa Sheriffs will no doubt be out in force keeping the peace. I never went to my own prom. It might be fun for Ellie."

Opie looked at his old lady. "Big Red, you can't seriously think this is a good idea?"

Fawn reached up to caress his bearded cheek. "No it wouldn't be a good idea, if it were _my crazy ass_ who was going, but this is _Ellie_ we're talking about." Fawn looked at Jolene and then grinned as she took another tack. "And it's not like _she_ has any intention of sneaking her ass off to Oak-Town and getting into a Club while underage. Or are you planning that on the sly?" She looked at Ellie as Jax started to cough long and hard before his old lady elbowed him in the side.

"Fawn, of course not!" Ellie replied wide eyed before turning to her uncle. "You okay Uncle Jax?" she asked with concern.

"Oh, I'm fine darlin'," the SAMCRO President said as he started to laugh as he watched his best friend. "I agree with Fawn. I don't think that Ellie is that precocious." He bent over to whisper in his old lady's ear. "Not like some other 17 year old that I know."

"Watch it, easy rider," Jolene murmured softly. "You've got seven, maybe eight more years before Maddy's prom and then the shoe will be on the other fuckin' foot. We'll see who'll be laughing then." She grinned as her old man frowned.

"Daddy, please?" Ellie begged prettily. "I promise I'll be on good behavior and if anything gets an out of hand, I can always call Aunt Jo. I'm sure she wouldn't mind coming to pick me up and drop me off at home since you two will be up at the cabin."

Tiki stood silently fuming as before his eyes the gentle giant of the mother charter caved to his daughter's persistent begging and granted her an all-night party pass. He didn't like it, not one damn bit, but as Ellie squealed and threw herself into her father's arm he had a sudden epiphany.

_It will be a hell of a lot harder for Ellie to end up horizontal in a booth at Nicky's Diner than in some hotel bedroom._

_It looks like I'm going to have my work cut out for me_ , the young patch thought grimly. Unfortunately for Tiki, it was going to be a hell of a lot harder to follow Ellie than he originally planned.

* * *

Leaning his head back against the rich leather seat of the white Hummer stretch limo, Greg Daniels was really looking forward to the night's festivities. Surveying the pimped out ride that would be his and his friends for the next 12 hours brought a wide grin to his handsome features.

The limo's interior was awesome and tricked out with two long rows of white leather seats, plush carpeting, two skylights, a 40" flat screen with a full entertainment center and a huge bar. The driver had picked him up at 6:30, but Greg instructed him to take him around for a spin first on Main Street. _Gotta see and be seen_ , he had thought with amusement.

Greg had his uncle, a highly successful entertainment lawyer, to thank for the limo. He had wanted to give his favorite nephew a real treat for his graduation.

_And to think that I'd be riding in this bitch solo if it wasn't for Ellie Winston._

Greg would be eternally grateful to his classmate for saving his ass from the huge embarrassment of going stag to his own prom. He still found it hard to believe that Sarah, his girlfriend of nearly a year had bailed on his ass just a week before Prom, having ditched him for a former Excelsior Prep Senior who was now a freshman at USC. The two of them had been a power couple at Excelsior Prep and Sarah was extremely popular, was the head cheerleader for the Excelsior Wildcats and an Honor student.

"Too bad she doesn't know the meaning of fucking honor," Greg muttered. "I really thought she was something special."

Although some of his fellow soccer mates encouraged him to play the field, Greg had found it surprisingly easy to be faithful to his girlfriend, especially as Sarah had had the pick of any of the football jocks to be her man, but had instead chosen to be with him. He had been raised to be a pretty decent guy and he had thought that after a year together Sarah was really into him and as they planned to start CSU-Stanton in the fall, had believed their relationship would continue there too. Obviously he had been dead wrong.

_Well, when she hears about this pimped out ride, she's gonna wish she had stuck with me._

With his uncle taking care of the limo rental, Greg was able to go all out for the rest of the evening's entertainment. He and his buddies had the limo stocked with the best in party food and drinks and had managed to get their hands on a couple of bottles of premium liquor which had cost the earth to secure.

 _No one in our class will have a limo like this. Our crew is doing shit in style_ , Greg couldn't help but gloat about his awesome luck. _Charming has never seen the likes of this shit._ With the prom being held at a huge hotel on the highway, a number of seniors had secured rooms upstairs and Greg had decided to spring for a Honeymoon Suite for him and Sarah. He had ordered the full package too—plenty of food, sparkling cider and flowers. Unfortunately, because of the hotel's cancellation policy he was now stuck with it.

_Unless I can get to use it after all._

Greg had really lucked out when Ellie had finally agreed to go with him. She was the only one of a small pool of girls at school that Greg would even consider asking. Even though she was a junior, Ellie had a number of friends that interactive with his own, which was how they knew one another.

Ellie was a beautiful and smart girl, engaging although not as outgoing as other girls in school. He didn't really know a lot about her personally, other than she was pretty close with his math teacher as Greg had spotted her hanging out in Mrs. Teller's classroom a number of times. Thinking to sound out one of his friends, he had approached a fellow soccer mate for advice and had been surprised and relieved when Dave Harper told him that she wasn't going to the prom. It was great news to him and he decided to ask her out that very day, but Dave had tried to warn him against it.

_"Look bro, I'm just saying, you might want to push off that. Ellie is a nice girl and all, but—"_

_"But what?" Greg had demanded._

_"Hey, maybe I should just keep out of it," Dave replied uneasily. "I don't want to step in some shit."_

_"Look, you can't drop some shit like that and leave me hanging. What gives?"_

_"It's like I said, she's a nice girl and all, but her family . . . well, they are well known in these parts as being a pretty tough and protective bunch. You might not want to mess with them."_

_"That's not a lot to go on, Dave."_

_"I wouldn't say anything to you, but you only moved here a couple of years ago. Surely by now you must have heard of the Sons of Anarchy, right?"_

_Greg shrugged his shoulders. "You mean the motorcycle gang in town? Yeah, I've heard about them, but I can't say that I've know any of them personally. Shit, my life pretty much revolves around school, soccer and Sarah ever since my parents and I moved here from Sacramento."_

_"Well, I know that Ellie's father is a member of the Club and Mrs. T—she's married to the Club's president."_

_"You're kidding?" Greg said disbelievingly. "Well, they can't be all that bad, then. Mrs. Teller is a class act, a great teacher, and is really hot. I wouldn't think she'd be involved with a bunch of crazies." He nudged Dave's shoulder. "Maybe the reason you're trying to scare me off is because you like Ellie for yourself. Look man, you're my teammate. If that's the case, I don't want to step on any toes here—"_

_"No, man. I'm not with Ellie . . . I mean, well I did try but she wasn't really interested." Dave shivered a little as he thought about the rough looking outlaw that had scooped up Ellie on his bike as he was talking with her right on Main Street. "Anyway, I have a date to the prom so I'm good. I just don't think she'll go with you because I think she's got a guy already."_

_"You think or you know?" Greg persisted._

_Dave shrugged. "Well, they seemed pretty intimate when he rolled up on my ass."_

_"So what's my possible competition look like?"_

_"He's tall, about your height. I think he's kinda built but it was hard to tell as he was on a motorcycle." Dave nodded as Greg's eyes widened. "Yeah, from the kutte he was wearing, I'm sure he's a member of the Club. He looked pretty tough though and Ellie seemed to be kinda flirty and shit with him. Got on the back of his ride and took off and didn't give me a second look. Bottom line, I just think you're better off inviting somebody else. There are tons of chicks that would want to date you."_

_"Have you seen them together since?"_

_"Not that I can recall."_

_"Well, it sounds like what you saw was pretty circumstantial if you ask me. I'm going to ask her," Greg determined, "and if she is hooked up with this guy, I'm sure she'll let me know and if not, then I may have a chance."_

Greg was glad that he had listened to his instincts because Dave had been wrong. When he had asked her out and had been turned down, he had asked if it was because she was dating. Ellie had admitted that she wasn't in a relationship with anyone but she wasn't really interested in going to the prom. She had been nice about it, but Greg had decided to be persistent and it had paid off because when he asked her a second time pleading for her to help him save face, she accepted his invitation and had given him her phone number and address. He had been surprised to discover that she lived in Crestwood too as he had never noticed her around the neighborhood before.

Feeling the limo slowing down, Greg looked out of the tinted window to see that the driver had pulled to a stop in front of a nice two-story home. Taking a look through the limo's tinted window he grinned.

Tonight would hopefully be the best night of his young life and if he played his cards right, Ellie Winston could end up as his new girlfriend.

* * *

"Chile, you do make a pretty picture," Neeta said from a chair as she dabbed at the corners of her eyes. "You sure don't look like the little girl in pigtails that used to run around Jolene's backyard."

"No she doesn't," Jolene said wistfully. "She's all grown up now. You look just like your mom honey."

 _If only Donna could be here to see her_ , Jolene swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Oh, c'mon you two," Ellie demanded as she turned around from her seat in front of her stepmother's vanity. "Don't you start bawling. Then I'll start too and then where will we be."

"I'll have to redo your make-up again, so don't you dare," Fawn ordered.

The women were all in Fawn's master bedroom which had become Prom Central as Ellie had prepared herself for her evening out. With Tina using a digital camera to memorialize the occasion, the women had spent the last hour laughing and sharing stories.

"Did you go to your prom Tina?" Ellie asked.

Sitting on the bed, Tina ran a hand through her shoulder length curls. "Yes, I did. I was something of a sensation as I was a late bloomer and my body had finally caught up with my age. I received a lot of attention and I enjoyed it just a little too much," Tina said a little wistfully. "My wish for you is to have a wonderful time, but try not to lose yourself tonight. Things for me might have been . . . different if I had kept my head on my shoulders."

Watching Tina as her eyes met Jolene's, Ellie nodded sympathetically. There was still a lot of history that Tina had not shared regarding her life choices that led to the eventual separation of mother and daughter and while Ellie didn't know all the facts she knew that she didn't have to in order to learn from Tina's example. "I understand Tina and I will obey."

_For the most part. After all, a girl has to have an agenda._

Taking another look into the vanity's mirror, Ellie peered carefully at her appearance. "Do you guys really think I look okay?"

"You look perfect, honey," Mary said as she blew her nose heartily. "Looking at you reminds me of my own prom."

"Were you the belle of the ball, Grand?"

"You better believe it! I looked just as sweet as you did, but girl, I was a devil in a blue dress." Mary's hearty laughter was joined by the other women.

"So you were a bad girl, Mary?" Neeta sniggered. "I'm not at all surprised."

"You shouldn't be," Gemma laughed bawdily. "Yo do remember this one met Piney when she was a stripper, don'tcha?"

"Grand?!" Ellie exclaimed. "What's Aunt Gem talking about?"

"Oh shit, cat's outta the bag now," Neeta muttered.

Everyone watched as Mary's face turned a delicate shade of pink. "It was a long time ago, darlin'. Nothing like what you see in strip clubs today. Besides, back in the 60's, stripping was more or less an art form," she continued as her granddaughter's mouth gaped open in shock.

"More or less is right as you sure as shit lost your clothes in the bar Piney found your ass in," Gemma said slyly.

"That's ancient history," Mary shot back, "and you might want to shut your yap before I start tripping down memory lane on _your_ past misdeeds, which were a hell of a lot more interesting than mine!" Nodding in satisfaction as Gemma suddenly became quiet, she turned to her granddaughter.

"I think I'd like to hear about that shit," Jolene muttered.

"Me too," Fawn agreed.

Mary brushed the two younger woman off. "Now Ellie, I want you to have a good time tonight—not as good a time as I had back in the day—but it's the prom. It's the one night where it's permissible for you to kick up your heels a little. Just remember that if you lose your shit, you're going to have a lot of people to deal with, including your father."

Ellie got up and walked over to hug Mary. "I'm going to want a blow-by-blow of all you got into on your prom night," she whispered.

"In ten years," Mary whispered back. " _Maybe_."

"Well, it's nearly 7:00," Jolene said as she stood up. "Let's go downstairs to wait for Ellie's date. Give our girl a few minutes by herself so she can make her big entrance."

* * *

Down in the living room, Opie Winston waited impatiently. Having pushed Jax to have Church early, he had high tailed it back home so that he would be there in time to see his daughter leave for her prom.

_And meet her date._

As the second floor of the Winston home had become a Mecca of Beauty for the afternoon and had been completely off limits to any male, human or the four-legged variety, both Opie and Rocco had been ordered to stay on the ground floor. Even now, Rocco, was pacing about in an excitable manner as if the canine knew some shit was about to go down.

"Yeah, boy. I'm depending on your ass to help me scare the living shit out of this clown who's coming to take our girl out." Opie reached over to scratch the greyhound's ears. "You with me on this, right fella?"

Rocco, seeming to understand, barked his agreement before leaping onto the sofa, practically trying to squeeze his 130-lb frame into the big man's lap.

"Cut it out boy," Opie ordered somewhat ruefully and watched as Rocco finally settled down, placing his head in his lap and looking up at him with melting chocolate brown eyes scrunched almost blissfully shut as Opie scratched his ears. It was funny to the outlaw that the Italian Greyhound had little tolerance for males of any species with the exception of himself, Harry and Tig.

With Opie and Fawn scheduled to leave shortly after their daughter's departure to go on their weekend alone up at the cabin, Rocco would be spending time at Tina's place and wherever Tina was, Tigger wasn't far behind.

Leaning back on the sofa, Opie grinned as he thought about his brother and Momma T. Tig practically lived at Tina's now, although he still had his dorm at the Clubhouse. The hook up of the current SAMCRO Queen's birth mother with the crazy-eyed sonavabitch SAA was still making headlines up and down all the Pacific Charters. Opie had no problems at all with the new couple, as long as his brother didn't mess shit up with Tina. As much as his Big Red had reconnected with and made peace with her father, if Tig were to seriously hurt the woman who was not only her best friend, but surrogate mother, Opie believed it was possible for Fawn to order her old man to run over his brother with his ride.

 _And I might do it too_ , Opie chuckled.

Hearing the sound of what sounded like a loud cage pulling up in front of his house, Opie cocked a head at Rocco who suddenly started barking loudly.

"What you think boy? Is that the douchebag looking to take our Elle out?" Opie stood up and walked over to the window, Rocco padding along by his side. "Well damn," he muttered as he took in the long white stretch Hummer limo that was parked outside his house and watched as the driver, a chauffeur with a pristine black suit, dark tie and hat exited the vehicle to open the passenger door. Opie's eyes glittered as a young man dressed in a formal tuxedo carrying a long stemmed red rose exited the vehicle and started to stride up the Winston's walkway.

"Well get a load of this fucker," Opie muttered. "He ain't no boy. He's a damn man," taking in the man's slim, but tall physique, his blond hair glinting in the fading sunlight. "He's too pretty, Rocco. We don't like him, do we?"

Rocco growled his agreement.

"Let's make sure he knows that shit, okay?"

Turning to head towards the front door, Opie heard the sounds of a bunch of feet making their way down the stairs. Quickly making his way out of the living room, he found that his pain in the ass sister had beat him to his own front door.

"Don't worry Sasquatch," Jolene said cheerfully. "We got this shit."

"The fuck you say," he blustered but his old lady interrupted.

"Actually, I think _I_ should get this," Fawn said as she tossed her red hair over her shoulders. Long and lean in head-to-toe black with 6" boots, Fawn fluffed her hair and then winking at Jolene, opened the door.

* * *

 _My, my, Greg does clean up really nicely_ , Jolene thought to herself. The 6'2 blonde haired soccer player made an attractive picture as he stood on the Winstons threshold.

"Wow, uh—" Greg stammered as he eyed Fawn.

"What the fuck? What does he mean 'Wow'," Opie growled offended by the young man obviously ogling his old lady.

"Down boy," Jolene nudged him with an elbow. "Behave."

Apparently, though, Rocco had been in agreement. The hound, standing by Opie's side, was suddenly next to his mistress. The deep growl, accentuated by several harsh barks had his mistress shushing him.

Grabbing Rocco by his collar, Fawn grinned at the startled young man. "You'll have to excuse my friend here. He's not too partial to your type. You must be Greg."

The young man cleared his throat several times. "Yes, that's right and you are—"

"Ellie's stepmom, Fawn," she held out a hand to which he took rather stunned. "Please, why don't you come in and meet everybody. Jolene told me that you are in one of her classes."

"Uh, yeah, that's right. What are you doing here, Mrs. Teller?" he said somewhat bewildered.

Jolene smiled. "I guess you didn't know that Ellie is my niece."

"Uh, no I didn't. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Greg. You look very handsome," Jolene said genially.

Fawn made quick work introducing the rest the women, trying to give the young man as much time as possible to feel comfortable before she lowered the boom on his ass. "And this," she turned, "is my old man and Ellie's father, Opie Winston."

Greg gulped rather loudly. The man was as big as a mountain and wearing the kutte showing his affiliation to the local motorcycle club.

Jolene had nearly burst out laughing as she heard the audible sound of fear Greg made as he looked into the uncompromising eyes of her brother as he stared down with cold dead eyes at the suddenly trembling young man.

 _Shit, Ope_ , Jolene thought with amusement. _Cut the boy a little slack will ya. Ellie can't dance with a corpse_.

"Uh, hello sir," Greg managed to straighten his shoulders as he faced the scary man in front of him and held out his hand.

Jolene felt a little bad for her student as Opie waited a good ten seconds before taking the boy's hand in a bone crushing grip.

"So you're the asswipe—I mean boy whose taking my daughter out?"

"Uh . . . yes sir."

Jolene could see Opie telegraphing his thoughts to the boy so that even a blind man could understand what he wanted to convey.

_If you fuck with my daughter, I'm going to find you and kill you._

"Redwood, be nice," Opie heard his old lady murmur under her breath.

_Fuck that shit. I'm going to scare the hell out of him._

Opie nearly bore a hole into the young man. "You understand English, right?"

"Uh, yes sir."

"So I don't have to tell you what will happen to your ass should my daughter not come home exactly as she left it, do I son?"

"Uh, no sir."

"Just to be clear, I have a lot of friends . . . and they know a lot of places to dispose of a body. I'm an ex-con and I have no problem doing a stretch for murder—but that's only _if_ I get caught. Do I look like a sonuvofbitch who's a fuck up?"

"Absolutely not sir."

"So then you know that I mean what I say." Opie lightly tapped the boy on the shoulder. "I'd hate to get your rent-a-tux all bloody."

"Dad! You promised you be nice," Ellie moaned from her vantage point at the top of the stairs, and Opie looked up.

And froze.

Just barely catching her father's last words, it was very apparent to Ellie that he had put the fear of God into her escort. Wanting to rip him a new one for embarrassing her, Ellie found that she couldn't manage it as walked down the stairs. All she could focus on was her father's eyes that were misted over with emotion as everyone oohed and ahhed over her appearance. Ellie barely noticed her date as she ran into her father's outstretched arms, teetering on ice pick heels that barely brought her up to his chin.

"Do I look okay?" she had whispered.

"You look wonderful baby," he had whispered back. "Just like your mom."

After that the two of them almost got a little weepy before Fawn put a stop to it.

"Okay, now," she said sternly, quickly swiping at her own tearing eyes as she watched her old man practically swallow his daughter in his burly arms. "Stop wrinkling up our daughter. She needs to say hello to her date and then Tina can take some proper pictures before they leave."

Pulling out of her father's embrace, Ellie quickly swiped away a few tears before turning to face her escort.

"Hi Greg, you look wonderful."

"I look like shit compared to you," Greg said a little awed. "You look incredible."

 _He's right on both counts,_ Opie thought grimly as he wrapped an arm around his old lady.

"Okay, people," Tina ordered. "It's picture time. Now the two of you stand here," pointing to the newel post at the stairs. "I have a lot of shots I want to take. Your granddad said to make sure I took plenty."

Ellie turned and grinned up at Greg. "I hope you don't mind. My Granddad Bob loves pictures, especially now that he doesn't see me as often since he moved with my uncle to Utah."

"No problem at all," he replied as he eyed Opie and Ellie watched him go a little pale.

After spending nearly 15 minutes being posed one way or the other, Ellie finally called a halt to the photo session. "We really should be going, everybody." She looked at Greg. "Don't we have to pick up the rest of the gang?"

"Yes, that's right. We should get going." He reached over and took the little wrap that Jolene held out and was about to drape it over Ellie's shoulders when he caught Opie's death glare. He thrust it out at her. "Uh, maybe you better do it."

Taking it from him, Ellie tossed it around her shoulders. "So I guess we're off," she said brightly. Waving goodbye, Ellie opened the door and walked outside coming to a halt as she spotted the limousine. "Damn, Greg. You really went all out." Ellie's eyes darted about as she surveyed the area.

And saw no one.

Biting her lip in disappointment, Ellie squared her shoulders as she turned towards her date.

"Yep, it's all our for the whole night." Greg held out his arm and Ellie folded her arm into the crook of his. "Your chariot awaits my lady."

Headed towards the limo, Ellie only had one thought in her mind.

_The chariot is fine, you're just not my knight in shining armor._


	3. What a Biker Has to Do

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sons of Anarchy. Harlee Quinn does, however, own Jolene and any other OCs that appear in the Jaxene Universe.** **I'm just taking them out for a spin!**

 

* * *

"Look," Juice said as he eyed his restless brother. "I got shit covered here. Why don't you go and handle what you gotta do?"

The question, which echoed in the large open space of one of the warehouse's many rooms, was surprising to Tiki Munson who paused in the act of securing the lid onto another crate of MAC-10s.

It was now Saturday morning and the time on Tiki's prepay was 1:15 a.m., a fact that the patch was well aware of considering that he had pulled out his phone about a half a dozen times in the last hour, something that had not gone unnoticed by his brother.

The two patches had been working alternating shifts on gun assembly duty for the last two days, an event that had been totally unexpected. Cameron Hayes, the Sons' contact in the RIRA had managed to get the Club's next shipment of guns across the Canadian border two days ahead of schedule. As a result, Happy and Chibs had picked up the shipment in Eureka and had brought the cargo the rest of the way to the warehouse for assembly and distribution to several charters.

With the shipment's early arrival, Jax had given orders for the assembly process to start ahead of time as well, with two patches overseeing the assembly in 12-hour shifts, along with their two crews of illegal workers.

It was just bad luck that Tiki was assigned with Juice to the Friday evening shift starting from 6:00 that night until the following morning. Tiki never shirked his Club responsibilities and although he wanted to switch his shift with another patch, he figured that Jax would want to know why. So instead of being staked out in front of the Winston house in time to see Ellie's date arrive and to follow them to the Prom venue, he was stuck working with Juice to oversee the gun assembly and pack up orders for distribution to SAMTAC, SAMTAZ and the Niners and he would be stuck doing so all night long. There was no way for him to get out of it. That is until Juice opened his mouth.

Putting down the nail gun he was holding, he eyed his brother carefully. Although Juice was the older and more experienced patch, he still tended to get hazed more often than any other brother. Tiki figured that happened because at the heart of it all, Juice was an easygoing and sometimes naive guy, despite the fact that he had been a patch for over [16] years. There was just something sweet and somewhat goofy about his brother but despite that there were times when you least expected it that the Puerto Rican from Queens would see some shit that other, more wiser patches, would miss.

"What are you talking about, man?" he blustered.

The Intelligence Officer cocked an eyebrow at him. "I mean it's pretty obvious that here is the last place you want to be. There ain't a whole lot left to do. It's just packing up the rest of the orders while my cousins next door," referring to their crew of illegal Mexican workers, "finish assembling two dozen AKs for Laroy. They prolly won't be done until around 4:00. That should be plenty of time for you to go check up on Ellie—I mean—check up on whatever you got cooking and get your ass back here to test the last of the guns before we pack them up."

Juice smiled as he saw his brother's eyes widen in shock. "What? Do you think I was born yesterday? Have you forgotten I'm the Club's Intel Officer? Hearing shit and putting it together is my forte, bro."

Tiki sighed as he sat down on a crate of AKs. "Just exactly what do you think you know?" he challenged.

Juice put down his own nail gun and folded his arms over his chest. "My Moms used to say that it's pretty easy to put shit together if you can spot a pattern. Take for instance a brother who goes out of his way to do shit for a young woman—for instance, like show up at unexpected places to pick her up and take her ass home," Juice grinned as recalled a pleasant evening spent at Tina Giamatti's home. "Then all an enterprising brother has to do is to put that shit together with other shit. Like, _I know_ that you weren't exactly raring to work this shift tonight when Jax drew up the work schedules. Like, _I know_ that you hit up Clay to borrow his old cage and asked Lowell to give it a tune up and to park it outside the back entrance of the lot. _I also know_ I overheard you casually making conversation with Shithead about the location of Ellie's prom at that fancy hotel up on 580 and what time it started. _And_ _I know_ that Harry was more than happy to volunteer said information since his ass is stuck working behind the bar at the after Church party we're currently missing out on, otherwise he'd probably be doing what you want to do right now, which is trailing after his sister to make sure she don't land into some shit," Juice smirked.

"Well shit," Tiki muttered and even in the semi darkness of the room, Juice noted the faint stain of pink that crept up from the collar of Tiki's kutte to his well-defined cheekbones. "You sure know a hell of a lot of shit."

"Well that's my job, isn't it?" Juice said as he sat on another crate opposite him and looked in him the eye. "It seems to me like you have a vested interest here. Now, I gotta figure that part of your interest in looking after Ellie stems from the love of the brotherhood. I know that as much as Opie loves spending time with his old lady, a good sized chunk of that fucking Redwood tree wanted to be in Charming making sure his little girl is safe. So I gotta believe that you were maneuvering all that shit so that you could be Ope's eyes and ears for him, which is what you should do because you love your brother. But the _other_ part of me figures that there's a part of you that ain't doing this just out of concern for your brother's daughter. Am I right?"

"Maybe," Tiki admitted reluctantly.

"Doesn't sound like a 'maybe' to me." Juice paused. "Look, I've been in this charter for a long time and I've seen firsthand what can happen when shit gets a little twisted when the daughter of a member is involved. We're all family here but it doesn't prevent shit from getting bent the fuck out of shape, you understand me?"

Tiki nodded soberly.

"So, if you got some shit to do, I suggest you go ahead and do it. But if you're going to take this sitch with Ellie any further, you might want to seek out some advice from a patch older and wiser than I am and who has been through this shit before." Slapping his brother on the back good naturedly, Juice stood up as he made his way towards the door.

"I'm going to take a leak. I figure that by the time I get back you won't be around. Just make sure you have your ass back here by 4:00."

Tiki grinned at Juice's retreating back before he picked up his Glock which was lying on a table. Quickly holstering it, he made his way outside to his ride. If he moved quickly enough, he should be able to get back to the lot and pick up Clay's cage to get to the prom before it broke up at 2:00.

* * *

Standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom of Nicky's Diner, Ellie applied a fresh coat of lip-gloss and sticking the wand back into its sheath dropped it into her small beaded clutch next to the pepper spray Fawn had given her with a little sigh.

_Well things didn't happen exactly as I hoped, did it?_

It wasn't as if Ellie was having a bad time. She was, in fact, enjoying herself and had done so from the time she had gotten out of school.

With Friday being a half day, Ellie had all afternoon to prepare for her big date. Instead of working in the salon as she normally did after school it was Ellie's turn to be a pampered client. The salon had been completely packed with teenage girls who shrieked and squealed with excitement as they got waxed, buffed, polished and fluffed for the night that they had waited for all year long. For Ellie it had been nice too but not nearly as important a night to her as to the other girls simply because she had a totally different agenda.

But Ellie still enjoyed the process. The day before she had had her facial and full body scrub and so her skin, now newly exfoliated was ready for the use of cosmetics. After school she had picked up some last minute items and then headed home for a long relaxing bath before showing up for her mani/pedi and waxing before heading downstairs to Fawn's chair for her hair. She had then returned home where Grand, Neeta, Aunt Jolene, Tina and Gemma were waiting for her to get her into her prom dress.

Fawn—who had to stick it out and finish her other customers—had managed to make it home in time so that she could put on the finishing touches on her make-up before her date had showed up.

Now as she leaned against the bathroom wall, Ellie smiled as she thought about her father. After arriving at the prom she had found a moment to herself to text her aunt to find out exactly what her father had done to poor Greg. It had taken a good ten minutes in the limo before the color managed to return to his cheeks and he had stopped trembling, but after reading Aunt Jolene's reply she had to figure that the fact that Greg had still been standing after the onslaught of meeting her outlaw daddy proved he wasn't a complete wimp.

The prom had been enjoyable. It was a beautiful venue. Held in a 5-Star Hotel, the Grand Ballroom was located on the top two floors. Offering floor to ceiling windows that looked out on an expanse of the California Mountains, indoor and outdoor dining and a huge dance floor, Excelsior Prep's Prom Committee had outdone themselves with their choice of venue. With a large open air skylight and tasteful decorations of flowers and artwork highlighting the efforts of the Senior Class' school spirit and advancement in education, and a live band with DJ, the entire class was rocking out, enjoying themselves as they relived memories of the past school year while making new ones. There were plenty professional photographers on hand to take candid and professional portrait pictures during the cocktail hour, although Ellie didn't have a clue why they called it that since there wasn't a lick of booze to be had. The cocktail room led into the main ballroom which was tastefully decorated with plenty of tables that were scattered throughout with wait staff ready to serve their guests a nice three course meal before the main dancing started.

The live band had been surprisingly good and with the unveiling of the Prom King and Queen the rest of the night was spent dancing and having a good time. There were a number of students, Ellie noted wryly that were having _too_ good of a time. No doubt somebody had brought in some party favors of an illegal nature and a few couples had, in due course, made their way upstairs to the rooms that they had booked for their own private rendezvous.

Ellie had been surprised at becoming the life of the party, having many partners on the dance floor. There were a lot of her schoolmates who were shocked that she was being so gregarious. While Ellie wouldn't consider herself to be anti-social she did keep herself limited to a select group of students.

What had been interesting were the many compliments that Ellie had witnessed or overheard given to Greg by a large number of male student body, basically congratulating him for scooping her up. It had been enough to embolden Greg to mention as they slow danced that it was a real shame that he had a room upstairs that wasn't getting any use.

Ellie had eyed him with an eye rolling stare before replying. "Yes, it is too bad you couldn't get your money back on it. But if you feel you need to get some use out of it, you can always go upstairs—" Ellie paused and watched as a hopeful look crossed Greg's features. Then she dropped the boom on him.

"—alone and take a nap while I stay down here and dance," she said cheerfully. "Besides, I'm sure that _my father_ would rather I stay down here too."

The pointed reminder had been enough and seeing Greg's Adam apple bob up and down in a panic, Ellie had been hard pressed not to laugh.

But now as she looked at her reflection in the mirror she sighed again. The whole reason that she had gone through this charade was in hopes of generating some sort of outward display of feelings in the heart of the one who had her own going crazy.

But Tiki had been nowhere to be seen, not at the salon while she was getting dolled up, not at her house when she had made her entrance or at the prom peeping in through a window somewhere.

_I guess it was unreasonable to expect that a biker—albeit one as sweet as Tiki—would be reduced to stalking me. I guess this is one time Miss Neeta Benson was dead wrong. I don't' know what the hell I was thinking: that Tiki would be so burnt up with jealousy that he would have followed me around to make sure nothing would happen to me._

Taking a quick look at her cell phone, Ellie noted that it was nearly going on 3:00. Suddenly the idea of staying at Nicky's until the sun went up wasn't as much fun as she thought it would be, even in Greg's pimped out limo. _Maybe I'll just call it a night, get Greg to get the limo driver to take me home._

So it was no little shock for Ellie Winston as she walked out of the diner's rest room and turned the corner into the bunch of loud noisy party goers sitting in booths and at the counter to see Tiki Munson standing at the diner's entrance doors as he watched her walking up the aisle.

* * *

Tiki had moved quickly to make it back to Charming from the warehouse. Hitting some traffic on the I-22 had not helped and had caused him to get back to town later than he wanted. However, the noise of the after church party emanating from the lot was so excessive that none of the party attendees noticed the sound of the pipes of his ride as he made his way to the back entrance of the lot. Quickly parking his ride, Tiki dug the keys to Clay's car out of his pocket and jogging over to his old cage—a 1985 Impala—gunned the car's aging motor and headed back to the highway. But by the time he had reached the parking lot of the hotel it was obvious that the dance was over as most of the cars were gone and only a few stragglers from the party were still hanging around.

Tiki could only hope that Ellie and her date had stuck to the original plan to go to Nicky's Diner. There was the possibility that they were still in the hotel occupying one of the rooms upstairs if the douche bag had convinced Ellie to do the naked pretzel with him. Fighting against the overwhelming anger in his gut at that possibility, Tiki had squelched his desire to storm into the hotel and kick down some doors to look for Ellie, and instead made a beeline back to Charming thinking that for Ellie's sake her ass better be exactly where she said it would be or the shit was going to hit the fan and dealing with her outlaw daddy was going to the least of her problems.

Nicky's Diner was located on the north end of Main Street. Tiki could hear the sound of music blasting from cage radios a couple blocks away. Forced to park his ride at the curb behind several Sanwa sheriff vehicles who were obviously on hand to keep a hard eye on the partygoers—pretty much as Gemma figured—Tiki did a walk around the fairly large parking lot looking for his prey. The venue was packed out with cars and limos and one really huge bitch of a ride was parked right in front of the diner and pretty much blocking all views of the street from the diner's occupants. Having thoroughly surveyed the parking lot, Tiki was starting to get worried, thinking that Ellie might be at the hotel after all. Stomping into the diner to check it out, he figured that if he didn't find her ass there, he was going to head back to the lot, pick up a couple of prospects and was going to kick down some hotel doors, so it was a good thing that the bathroom door opened and Ellie Winston came out.

Now as he stood with his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans, Tiki was surprised that his heart was tightening in his chest as he watched the vision walking towards him.

 _My God, she is absolutely beautiful_ , Tiki thought with amazement.

The dress, a deep royal blue was utter perfection. With intricate pleats and gathers sculpting the V-neck bodice which clung to firm taut breasts, the narrow band of material around the tiny waist emphasized the fact that Ellie had grown out of her once gangly and coltish figure into that of a woman of firm and delicate curves. The hem of the front of the dress stopped just short of her knees while the back swirled around her shapely calves. Her feet were in a delicate pair of strappy silver sandals, her fresh pedicure sparkling with silver nail polish.

But the dress itself was really nothing in comparison to the face above it. Ellie's features were expertly highlighted with cosmetics drawing attention to her dewy and fresh skin. Her eyes were her best feature. Outlined with dark kohl and done in smoky blue and gray eye shadow, Ellie's blue eyes looked huge and sexy in her softly rounded face, her upswept hair brought to the crown of her head with wisps of trailing curls about her face and her neck, the long silver drops of earrings and matching necklace gave her the look of a young fairy.

Seeing her in all her glory, Tiki was surprised to find that his mouth had suddenly gone dry as she made her way towards him. The other girls in the diner who had been doing their best to try to catch his eye despite the fact that their boyfriends and escorts were right there didn't attract him in the least. Their deeply plunging necklines, too short dresses and plastered on makeup in an attempt to make themselves look older and sophisticated paled in comparison to Ellie's natural and delicate beauty, something that Tiki had come to appreciate about the young woman who was far different in looks from either Jolene or Fawn.

Ellie finally came to a halt in front of Tiki, having stepped right into his personal space. With her heels, her new height allowed her to look directly into his eyes, eyes that were lingering on her face as if he was stunned by what he saw.

"Hey," she said quietly, her voice was so low that he barely heard it with the noise of the diner's customers and the wait staff who were busy taking and delivering orders.

"Hey," he replied softly.

Nervously Ellie almost licked her lips barely remembering that she had plastered them with lip gloss only moments ago. "This is s surprise."

"Uh, yeah," Tiki said casually as he propped a hand against the door. "I was a little hungry and decided to stop in and grab something to eat."

"Uh huh," she nodded absently. "At 3:00 in the morning?" she questioned the tone of her voice wry.

Tiki shrugged his shoulders. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. After all, a guy's gotta eat. Besides, I didn't think you'd still be around," he lied.

"So you remembered I'd be here," Ellie grinned as a slightly guarded look came into his eyes.

"I remembered as I tried to pull into the lot, which was kind of hard to do since it's packed in here." Tiki cast his eyes around the crowd, and smirked as he noted the bold stares of several of the girls who were quite avidly watching him and Ellie. "So where's your guy?"

"Guy? What guy?" Ellie wrinkled her brow in confusion.

"The guy who took you to the prom," Tiki said with a smile. _Shit, she can't even remember she had a date_? _I guess the idiot isn't that memorable._

"Oh. _That guy_ ," Ellie said. About to tell Tiki that he wasn't technically hers, she thought better of it. Pointing over to a booth in the corner that was crowded with kids, Ellie frowned. "That's our table but he's not there. Maybe he went back to the limo." She cocked her head towards the huge stretch Hummer limo. "Greg went all out and wants to make the most of limo while we have it."

"Greg, huh?" Tiki scoffed. "Sounds like a pretentious little shit."

"He's not that bad. In fact," Ellie said with a grin. "I think he's rather nice. _And_ he's very handsome," she added.

As the men's bathroom door opened, and a tall and attractive young man exited and headed towards the booth, Ellie grinned. "That's him, right there." Calling his name aloud, she waived at her date.

Tiki eyed the teenage boy who to his mind looked more like a man and was too good-looking for his own good. However, as Greg's eyes first met hers with a smile and then crossed to her companion, Ellie could see his eyes widen as he saw the outlaw biker in his kutte and blinked her eyes in shock as he quickly sat down avoiding her gaze.

"Well, damn," Tiki snorted with amusement. It was suddenly apparent that he really didn't have shit to worry about. He couldn't believe for a minute that Ellie could have any real interest in such a timid guy. "He's a shy bastard, isn't he?"

"Don't be mean. Greg is very nice." Ellie defended her date, but as she looked over at his booth he seemed to shrink even further into his seat.

 _Damn, I know Dad scared his ass a little, but really? I guess he is a little bit of a punk_ , she thought. _I wouldn't have pegged him as being so cowardly considering he held his shit together with Dad for the most part._

Meanwhile, Tiki draped an arm around Ellie's shoulders as he drew her closer to his side. The move was a calculated one and he grinned as he watched the males in the diner who instinctively realized that Ellie Winston was marked goods. "Yeah he's nice if you _like_ milk toast. That is one white bread teenager," he snarked.

Finding herself snuggled in the crook of his arm, Ellie wanted to pass out but managed to keep herself from swooning like some lovesick calf. Instead, she rolled her eyes at him as he pretty much nailed it on the head. In all fairness, Tiki was right. Greg _was_ as white bread as they came, and she was in no way, shape or form into white bread. But now that her man was here, she had an opportunity and she intended to use it.

"Well, it's been a long night and I'm kind of tired. I don't really feel like staying but I guess I ought to," Ellie sighed a little dramatically.

_Come on Sherlock, pick up the hint and run with it._

Tiki cocked an eyebrow at the coy little minx as she peeped up at him, her blue eyes looking soulful in her face.

 _Why do I get the feeling I'm being played_?

"Well, if you're that tired maybe you should head home."

"Yeah, but I don't want to break up their good time." Ellie said as she nodded towards her friends. "But if somebody were to give me a lift—" she trailed off.

"Like me?"

"Well, since you're offering." Ellie smiled brilliantly. "Let me just tell them I'm leaving," and like a shot Tiki watched as she ran up the aisle and said her goodbyes to her friends and her date, who didn't seem to mind before heading back towards the biker.

"I'm ready, although getting on your ride in this dress is probably going to be a little difficult."

Tiki opened the door and held it open as she walked by him. "It won't be a problem tonight," he replied as he placed his hand on the small of her back as he steered her towards the edge of the parking lot closest to the street where he had left Clay's car parked.

Threading their way through the parked cars and limos, the couple finally made it to the sidewalk, when Ellie heard someone call her name.

"Well good evening, Ms. Winston, Mr. Munson" a deep bass voice said genially.

Turning, Ellie offered a surprised smile. "Well hello Lieutenant Roosevelt. What are you doing out here?"

"Yeah, Roosevelt, This seems like a pretty shitty assignment for Morada's sub-station's top brass," Tiki said with a smirk.

"Too true. Actually, I'm off duty tonight," Eli Roosevelt said, as he shoved his hands into the pockets of not his crisp uniform slacks, but a pair of jeans. "I needed to make a little food run."

"Let me guess," Ellie chuckled. "Nicky's Supreme Double Cheeseburger with bacon, avocado, spicy curly fries with a double shot of Nicky's special fry sauce _and_ a slice of Strawberry Shortcake."

Eli's chocolate brown eyes widened in surprise. "Damn, that's a perfect guess. How did you know?"

Ellie laughed. "No special detective work here, Sheriff. When I'm working at the salon, I'm usually in charge of picking up the lunch orders and Fawn always has me check with Rita to see if I can pick her up anything, but don't worry, she doesn't order that too often. She's really good about watching her nutrition, but every so often she needs to cut loose a little. After all, she's eating for two now."

"Yes, she is." Tiki watched as the stalwart lawman grinned like an overeager school boy. Everyone in the small town of Charming had heard the news that the Sheriff and his wife were finally expecting their first child and it seemed that the soon-to-be new father had mellowed out considerably over the last few months.

"By the way, congratulations," Tiki said. "That's good news."

"Thank you. I appreciate that. It seems like romance, love and family is in the air tonight," Eli said as he eyed the couple. "Ms. Winston, while you look quite lovely and appropriately dressed for the festivities, I have to say that I'm surprised that you didn't get dolled up to match your date, Mr. Munson. While I know kuttes are the norm, I bet you'd probably clean up really nice in a tux."

"Excuse me?" Tiki sputtered. "Why the fuck would I be wearing a tux?"

"My bad," Eli said with a smirk. "I guess a Harley enthusiast wouldn't mind standing out at a prom, although I would think that partying down at the lot would be more of your thing. A prom is a little…juvenile."

Squeezing Tiki's arm, Ellie quickly said, "Oh, you've got it wrong, sir. Tiki just happened to run into me here and offered to take me home. I had fun, but I wanted to call it a night and I didn't want my date to have to leave."

Eli eyed the two of them narrowly. _Uh, yeah, right. I believe that shit,_ he thought as he eyed the possessive arm that had been wrapped around the young woman's waist.

_While Ms. Winston is definitely underage, that shit is none of my concern. Besides, if this biker gets out of hand with her, I'm sure Opie Winston will have no problems settling shit with his brother._

"My mistake," Eli replied. "Well, I better be getting along. My wife will be texting me in a minute wondering where I am. You two have a good evening."

Ellie and Tiki watched as the sheriff headed towards the diner. "Well, that was interesting," Ellie peeped up at her companion. "You know, while a school dance would definitely not be your scene, I think I have to agree with the Sheriff. You would have looked way handsome in a tux."

"You need to stop talking shit," Tiki said gruffly. "Come on." Placing a hand on the small of her back, Tiki directed Ellie towards the street. "I guess it was a good thing I used Clay's cage tonight."

Ellie eyed the monster car with relief. Having to straddle Tiki's bike in her dress would have been a little difficult as she probably would have had to hike the dress up to her armpits in order to get on. "I haven't seen this old heap on the road in years. Why do you have it?"

"Yeah, well, I needed to haul some shit around today and it was handy since Clay keeps it on the lot," Tiki lied as he held open the passenger door. "Hop in Little One, and let me take you home."

As Ellie slid into the car she allowed herself a wicked grin as he slammed the door and went around to the driver's side. Her plan to get her man in her sights was now back on the track.

 _Neeta, I apologize for ever doubting you._ _If I have my way_ , Ellie thought gleefully, _taking me home isn't the only thing Tiki will be doing tonight._

* * *

It had only taken 10 minutes with Tiki at the wheel to make their way to the Winstons new home in Crestwood. The house was only four blocks away from the Teller household and the Winston family had made the move only three months ago. After the brutal beating that Fawn Trager had received at the hands of Chip Preston, she had spent her recovery with her old man and his family. Fawn, who had been spending a great deal of time in the Winston home prior to the attack, found herself permanently assimilated into the Winston household before she had fully recovered and Opie had intended on keeping it that way.

However, that house had been very small for five people and a rather large dog. Prior to Donna Winston's death the plan had been to move into a larger home so that they could bring Opie's father Piney to live with them. Donna Winston had grown to love the old biker and wanted to keep a closer eye on him as his health was failing, but with the sudden death of both Winstons, the move had never come to fruition.

But with Opie insisting that Fawn was going to keep her ass where he had put it, the VP had decided that it was time to move to a larger house and his old lady had happily caved in. It had taken her several months of working with Jolene and a local realtor Britt Adams before the perfect house had become available. The two-family home that came on the market had fit the bill. With a mother-in-law cottage that was separated from the main house by a short stone walkway, Mary Winston now had her own space and privacy with the convenience of having her family nearby. The three-bedroom home had Opie, Fawn, Ellie and Harry and Fawn's beloved dog Rocco comfortably settled. It was only a matter of getting a moving company to pack up Fawn's apartment and ship her belongings to Charming to finally close the door on her old life in Seattle.

Now sitting on the end of a cushioned wicker sofa in the Winston's backyard, Tiki watched as Ellie made her way to him, the moonlight partially obstructed by several scattered trees shining patches of light, some of which caused her dress to gleam as it moved over her body. Paddling towards him on bare feet over the damp grass and having loosened her hair so that it trailed down abound her shoulders and back, Ellie carried two bottles of what Tiki presumed to be beer in her small hands.

 _This was definitely not one of my best ideas_ , he thought grimly, _but at least this time Mary won't be around to bust my ass_. Peering into the deep shadows of the backyard, Tiki was able to make out the shadowy outline of Mary Winston's cottage. On the ride home, Ellie had casually mentioned that her grandmother had had a long-planned weekend away in Sacramento for a reunion with a bunch of old co-workers from back in the day, which had been a key reason that Mary had finally given into what she had called Fawn's pestering to give her a makeover. With Harry tending to his prospect duties at the Club's after Church party, Ellie would have the whole house to herself for the weekend. The current series of events was made for an unscrupulous biker to take advantage and Tiki was starting to think that being here alone with Ellie was definitely not the best idea.

Evan as she approached him, he was unable to tear his eyes away from the beautiful picture Ellie made as she held out a bottle to him. "Are you joining me?" He said quietly as watched her with a raised eyebrow before taking a swig.

"Nope. Mine's a soda, although I wouldn't mind a little sip of yours," Ellie replied as she sat down right next to him. Curling her legs underneath her comfortably, she leaned against the back of the sofa, barely allowing for much room between the two of them.

Tiki could only be grateful for the upholstered overhang that stretched above them to protect its occupants from the heat of the sun. Tonight, however, it blocked the moonlight from shining on his face and possibly revealing the fact that he was feeling surprisingly cornered. It was not a feeling that should have been felt by a member of an outlaw MC and he wasn't happy about it. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Oh don't be a stick in the mud. You act like you never drank beer before you were legal. Come on, pass it over," she said, her voice flirtatious in the darkness.

Sighing, Tiki passed the bottle to Ellie and watched as she took it gleefully and took several hearty sips.

"Hey, that's enough," he warned as he reached out to take it back from her.

"Buzz killer," she pouted a little.

"Damn right," he shot back. "Not trying to get your ass wasted."

"That little bit wouldn't do anything. Besides, I thought it was tradition to get a little drunk on prom night," she teased.

"Not on my fuckin' watch," he retorted. "You've already had a bad experience in the past getting wasted. I know your Dad wouldn't want that shit to happen and neither do I."

Ellie found herself relenting to Tiki's gentle voice, inwardly cursing herself.

_I have him to myself in the fucking moonlight and all I do is pick an argument with him?_

So taking the initiative, Ellie reached up and captured Tiki's hand. Strong and calloused from manual labor, her hand was swallowed in his.

"I guess I should care that you want to keep me safe huh?"

"That I do," he murmured.

Sliding even closer towards him, Ellie drew Tiki's clasped hand toward her face, nestling her cheek into the cup of his hand, holding him to her. "Just because I'm the VP's kid?" Ellie said breathlessly.

"No," Tiki said a little hoarsely as his eyes met hers and would have revealed a deep dark need had they been visible. "Not just because you're the VP's kid.

"Then maybe it's because you really like me," she said as she inched closer. "Just as much as I lo—like you," Ellie managed before reaching up to place soft tender lips on his.

 _Ah, shit,_ Tiki thought as he unwittingly parted his lips and was surprised when Ellie tentatively slipped her tongue into his. A shot of desire spread directly to his groin and without conscious thought he reached up to lift Ellie so that she straddled his thighs and deepened the kiss.

Ellie felt triumphant as she circled her arms around Tiki's neck as she began to match his tongue stroke for stroke.

The sweet sexy little moans Ellie made as she literally devoured him was causing Tiki a full blown hard on. _If I don't stop this shit now, I'll end up punching Ellie's v-card on fucking prom night, the one thing my brother would not hesitate to put me in a fuckin' pine box for._

But Tiki started to lose his resolve. Wanting to pull away from, instead he buried his face in her neck trying to will himself to fucking move.

With her heart hammering in her chest, Ellie swallowed back her fear and bent to quickly capture Tiki lips in a surprisingly possessive kiss. "Come upstairs with me, Tiki," Ellie whispered boldly against his mouth. Tiki closed his eyes tightly, searching for his inner strength.

"Little One, I wish it were that easy," he said, his forehead touching hers. He grabbed her hand and kissed the palm, sending shivers down her spine.

"I know it's not," Ellie said, reluctantly thinking about her father, and knowing that Tiki was probably thinking of his brother as well—and the trust he was breaking to a Club brother. When she had started on this plan it had always been at the back of her mind that this was where she wanted to be, in Tiki's arms and having him make her his. She wasn't going to give up without a fight.

"Can't we deal with complicated shit tomorrow? I just need to be with you," she said while stroking his hair, gently tucking it behind his ear.

"Darlin', I feel like a douchebag for saying so but there is nothing I want more right now than to make love to you tonight," he said, holding her hand up to his heart.

"Shhh," Ellie interrupted almost sighing with relief, kissing his mouth softly. "That's all you have to say, Tiki. Just let the rest happen."

"I can't, Ellie," Tiki protested, unwilling to pull himself away from her like he knew he should.

* * *

Ellie could see the pain she was causing him in his eyes, but she now that she was so close to the prize she was unwilling to let it go. Unfortunately, the man of her dreams wasn't on the same page.

Tiki suddenly jerked her off of him and set her on her feet. Before she knew what was happening he had marched her through the backyard and into the house making a beeline for the front door.

"I didn't come here to do this with you Elle," Tiki replied angrily, irritated with himself for letting shit go too damn far.

Ellie suddenly halted their progress, jerking away from him as they stood in the foyer. "Why the fuck not, Tiki?" Ellie's tone had turned from sweet to mutinous as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You can't tell me that you don't want this," she whispered. "Want us, can you?"

"I won't lie Little One. I want you—a whole fuckin' lot. But not like this, and not this way."

Tiki reached out to caress her cheek, burying the other one in her hair as he drew her to him. "I'm not playing games with you. I care about you a lot, but this shit here can get twisted if we don't handle it right."

Ellie blinked rapidly to try and hold back her tears. "So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying we need to keep shit contained for a lot of reasons. Our time will come, Elle— _just not tonight_."

Giving her a brief hard kiss on her forehead, Tiki pulled the front door open. "Lock the door and go to bed," he ordered before slamming the door behind him.

* * *

 _But I don't want to go to bed alone_ , Ellie wanted to yell as Tiki headed down the walk to Clay's Impala.

Standing in the foyer and realizing that she had struck out—again—Ellie slowly made her way up the stairs to her room. Slamming the door behind her and tossing herself across her bed, Ellie let out a little scream of frustration.

"So damn close," she muttered crossly. It seemed that the closer she got to her end goal, the farther away it got.

Eleanor Mary Winston, however, was not a woman to give up. In another month she would be done with her junior year and she would have the entire summer to come up with a strategy to become Tiki Munson's old lady.

Flopping onto her back—a feat not easy as she was still in her prom dress—Ellie stared up at the ceiling. Looking at what happened objectively, a quiet smile started to form as Ellie realized that all was not fucking lost as Tiki's voice echoed in her head.

_Our time will come._

_I'm not alone in this. Our first kiss wasn't just some random fluke. He really does care about me._

With his declaration, Tiki Munson had finally made it plain that he had a definite interest in her. If he put the brakes on them going further, it was obvious because he had some reservations.

Ellie could understand that although she knew she was desperately impatient to get things moving, but now that her outlaw had pretty much put it out there that he wasn't going anywhere, she was more or less assured that her becoming his old lady had a better than 90% chance of success.

 _That knowledge doesn't mean I can't help move things along though_ , Ellie smiled wickedly.

It was going to be an uphill battle to get Tiki to get with the program, but Ellie knew that she was made of strong stuff. It would seem that Tiki's love for his brothers—and the undeniable respect he had for her father—was going to be an impediment to them being together any time soon.

Ellie sighed. She couldn't really fault Tiki for it. The respect he had for his brothers spoke volumes to her. It proved the type of man that he was, loyal and caring. Ellie knew that Tiki probably followed her around tonight as much as for her father's sake than his own and it touched her heart that he was so concerned about her that he had stalked her ass.

_Damn, that was hot as fuck._

But he was also honorable. Ellie knew that generally speaking the average biker, especially a one percenter, could give two fucks when it came to respecting the boundaries of age and consensual sex. The fact that Tiki was nearly six years her senior was obviously a big thing for him, never mind the fact that she had only turned 17 a few months ago and was still underage. But regardless of Tiki's concerns, Ellie was determined to show the biker that she was the only old lady for him.

If there was one thing that Ellie had learned from listening to stories of her SAMCRO heritage is that life is short and nothing is promised to anyone. Reaching over to her nightstand, Ellie picked up one of two framed pictures. In it, the smiling faces of her mother and father shone happily as they had their arms around their then ten-year old twins. It had been taken a couple of years before her mother's death, a family day at Fun Town, a travelling carnival that came to Charming every year. It still seemed unreal that her mother had been dead for over six years and her death, which had devastated the Winston family, had been completely unforeseen.

 _At least Mom and Dad had over a dozen years together_ , Ellie thought as she swiped a lone tear from her cheek. _And Dad was lucky enough to find Fawn_. Putting down the picture, Ellie picked up the second frame, this one depicting the entire Winston family, Fawn and Grand included, standing on the steps of their new home on moving day just a few months ago. She was so grateful to have her family together and happy.

_I want what Fawn and Dad have and I'm not leaving anything up to chance. I'm going after what I want._

Jolene Teller would definitely understand that. She had taken matters into her own hands to secure Jax Teller and even though they had gone through much heartache in their relationship, they had built a good life together. Ellie knew she was young, but like her aunt, she was determined that she would be with the love of her life.

It was just going to take a little time dealing with a young and stubborn outlaw. That was all right with her. Time was on her side.

"Tiki Munson can run as fast as he likes," Ellie said with determination, "but he's still going to be _mine_."

* * *

Heading rapidly back to the Club's warehouse, Tiki realized that Juice had indeed been right. He needed some sound advice and he needed it fast before he got himself into some shit that wasn't good for himself or for Ellie.

That was why as soon as he finished his shift at the warehouse with Juice he was going to sit down and have a talk.

_With Jax Teller._


End file.
